Drying drum with absorbent wall



March 8, 1960 D. TANN DRYING DRUM WITH ABSORBENT WALL Original FiledAug. 25, 1952 INVENTOR. Jan 2'4 727277.

BY I flg v? A aF/vz/s,

United States Patent F I 2,927,379 DRYING DRUM WITH ABSORBENT WALL DavidTann, Detroit, Mich.

Application October 19, 1954, Serial No. 463,172, which is a division ofapplication Serial No. 306,118, August 25, 1952. Divided and thisapplication July 26, 1957,

' Serial No. 674,391

4 Claims. (Cl. 34-95) This invention relates to fabric drying machinesand particularly to a fabric drying machine which has a liquid-carryingwall for conveying liquid away from the fabrics to be dried. Thisapplication is a division of my copending application Serial No.463,172, filed October 19, 1954. That application in turn is a divisionof my application Serial No. 306,118, filed August 25, 1952, which was acontinuation-in-part, now abandoned, of application Serial No. 155,682,filed April 13, 1950, also abandoned but a continuation-in-part of whichis now Patent No. 2,758,461.

In the above mentioned application Serial No. 155,682, a fabriclaundering machine is illustrated, described and claimed, embodying theconcept of utilizing a container for the fabrics and encompassing all ora substantial part of the peripheral wall by an absorbent covering.Tumbling of the fabrics within the container and against the absorbentcovering causes water in the fabrics to be transferred to the absorbentcovering of the wall, so that after a washing operation, the water inthe fabrics can be transported by said covering to a point exterior ofthe container. When heated air is circulated about the fabrics, addedfluid is extracted therefrom so that the extraction of moisture from thefabrics will not only be carried to a wet-dry stage, but also to abone-dry stage, that is to say to a stage at which the fabrics aresubstantially dry. Such a drying operation also dries the fabric in theperipheral wall and/ or the transporting member so that no deleteriouseffect will occur thereto after the laundering operation.

The present invention pertains to a modification of and improvement uponthe device illustrated in the parent application and has for its mainobject the provision of a driven container having a fabric peripheralwall.

Other objects and features of novelty of the invention will bespecifically pointed out or will become apparent when referring, for abetter understanding of the invention, to the following descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a view in perspective of a laundering machine with partsbroken away illustrating features of the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged broken sectional view of the structureillustrated in Figure 1, and taken along the line 2--2 thereof; and

Figure 3 is a 'broken sectional view of structure, similar to thatillustrated in Figure 1, showing a modified form thereof.

In Figure 1 a cylindrical container 11 is illustrated having animpervious front wall 12 and rear wall 13 joined by a plurality of rods14 at the peripheral edge. A peripheral wall 15 of fluid absorbingmaterial such as linen, cotton, synthetic materials and the like may besecured to the rods by pleats through which the rods extend, asillustrated more specifically in Figure 2. Raising and tumbling vanes 16are also secured to the front and rear walls 12 and 13; and thecontainer is suspended on a shaft 17, driven by a pulley 18 from a speed2,927,379 Patented Mar. 8, 1960 "ice reducing unit 19 by a motor 21. Aheating plate 22 is disposed across the peripheral wall, adjacentthereto, and is provided with heat through conduits 23, eitherelectrically, by steam, or other means.

When the machine is operated for drying wet clothes, the motor 21rotates the container 11 in clockwise direction as seen in Figure 1. Thesurface of the heating plate is disposed adjacent to the point of dropof the clothes, as they are tumbled, and at such a close distance fromthe fabric wall 15 that when the clothes are dropped upon said wall, thefabric of the wall is carried into contact with the surface of theplate, so that moisture is driven therefrom as by an ironing operation.

It is to be understood that the structure illustrated may be employedsolely for drying clothes, or, as indicated in my said patent, thestructure may also be employed for other and more inclusive launderingopera tions. The passage of water from the clothes into the fabric wall15, while the heating element 22 dries this wall, has a drying effect onthe clothes, either in the presence or absence of hot air which may becirculated within the container 11 in conventional manner to dry theclothes, such air assisting also in drying the fabric which forms theperipheral wall 15.

In Figure 3 a modified form of the invention is illustrated wherein asuction shoe is substituted for the heating shoe 20 of Figure 1 fordrawing liquid from the peripheral Wall 15. As a further modificationthe shoe 90 may be moved to a point which may be displaced for instanceabout 90 from that illustrated, so as to draw liquid from the wall 15before the wall is heated by the shoe 20. The shoe 90 has an arcuateface plate, closely following the curvature of the container andprovided with a plurality of apertures 92. The face plate is sealed to ahousing 93 having a suction conduit 94 connected thereto to which a pipeor hose 95 is secured; this conduit being connected to a source ofvacuum so as to extract water from the fabric material.

It is also within the purview of the present invention to provide heatedair under pressure to the conduit 94 for heating and driving moisturefrom the material 15. In this latter arrangement the shoe 90 ispreferably lo cated on the upper right-hand side of the container, asseen in Figure 1, at a point where the fabric material 15 is out ofcontact with the clothes.

What is claimed is:

1. A laundering machine comprising a support, framing means movable onsaid support, moisture-previous liquidcarrying wall means supported onand movable with said framing means and so shaped and disposed as toprovide a receptacle adapted to confine material therein, saidreceptacle consisting substantially of said wall means and the wallmeans being disposed for direct contact over extended portions of itsarea with the material confined within the receptacle, means for causingmovement of the material within the receptacle and in contact with saidportions of the wall means, and means for removing liquid from said wallmeans, said wall means substantially consisting of a flexible materialhaving pleats extending thereacross, and said framing means comprisingrods inserted in said pleats.

2. A laundering machine having a support, a cylinder mounted forrotation on said support, said cylinder having a pair of spaced endwalls, spaced rod like supporting means on said end walls locatedadjacent to the peripheral edges thereof, a woven fabric materialsecured by said supporting means at spaced points on the periphery ofthe cylinder, driving means for rotating said cylinder, one of said endwalls having a loading opening therein, and means located externally ofsaid cylinder and adjacent to the periphery thereof for removingmoisture from said fabric material.

cylinder, driving means for rotating said cylinder, and heating meansspaced from the Wovenfabric material in a position" for driving moisturetherefrom.

' 4. A laundering machine having a support, a cylinder 10 mounted forrotation on said support, said cylinder having a pair of spaced endwalls interconnected by spaced rodlike members disposed adjacent to theperipheral edges thereof, one of said end walls having aloading openingtherein, a peripheral' wall of liquid-carrying fabric mate-v V rialsecured between the end walls by said spaced mem-- bers, and meanslocated externally of said cylinder and adjacent to the peripherythereof for removing moisture 5 from said fabric material.

References-Cited the fi leof this patent, UNITED STATES PATENTS2,361,894 Williams Oct. 31, 1944 1 2,385,223 Moore -i Sept. 18, 19452,643,463 Grantham June 30, 1953 2,758,461 Tann ...i. Aug. 14, 11956dm-Vvamk

